NXT TakeOver: Phoenix - NXT Tag Team Championship, War Raiders vs Undisputed Era, winners, video highlights, and analysis
The War Raiders have been on a...well... a warpath since debuting on NXT. Hanson and Rowe, after months of domination, finally earned a shot at the NXT Tag Team Titles. The Undisputed Era faced their toughest challenge tonight against a team who has taken gold wherever they've gone, as they expected to do the same tonight.
The War Raiders emerged from an army of Viking warriors, ready to wreak havoc upon the NXT Tag Team Champions. As far as Roderick Strong and Kyle O'Reilly go, the champions were accompanied to the ramp by Bobby Fish, but neither Fish or Adam Cole went with them to ringside.
War Raiders vs Undisputed Era
O'Reilly and Strong jumped the Raiders immediately, sending Hanson to the outside while they worked over Rowe. Rowe quickly eliminated the threat, sending both men outside where they were met by the monstrous Hanson. Rowe then slammed Hanson from the apron onto the ground, crushing the champions.
Back in the ring, Strong attempted to catch Hanson sleeping with a running elbow strike, but Hanson shook him off, then tagged in Rowe for some more destructive tag team maneuvers. O'Reilly came in to prevent them from hitting the Fallout on Strong.
O'Reilly and Hanson, now the legal men, were back in the middle, with O'Reilly pelting the big man with strikes before bringing him into the corner for a tag. UE kept Hanson locked down in their corner while Rowe slowly got back up on the War Raiders side of the apron.
O'Reilly kept Hanson locked down in the middle with a headlock, then put in the guillotine. Hanson managed to get to his feet and tag in Rowe, who came in like a house on fire, tossing Roderick Strong into Kyle O'Reilly's face. On the apron, O'Reilly took out Rowe's knee, allowing he and Strong to take him down with some tricky footwork.
Hanson attempted to dive through the ropes to hit O'Reilly and Strong, but the champs evaded, and the giant Hanson crashed and burned. Rowe was left by himself to handle Undisputed Era. While he sent O'Reilly spiraling into his corner with a punch, Strong tagged in and took him down with a backbreaker. O'Reilly tagged in, and the champs hung Rowe over the top rope.
O'Reilly didn't give Rowe time to breathe, beating him down with knees and palm strikes. He locked in a triangle choke, but Rowe stood up. Strong tagged in and dropped Rowe with a full nelson backbreaker. O'Reilly got back in and attempted to keep Rowe away from his corner where Hanson finally reappeared. Strong tried to send Hanson to the ground, but he didn't budge.
The ref kept Hanson in his corner while he Undisputed Era drove Rowe to their corner. Rowe sent O'Reilly into Strong with an exploder suplex. Rowe tried to get to his corner, but O'Reilly dropped him down to the ground, allowing Strong to connect with the wrecking ball dropkick.
Back in the ring, O'Reilly worked on Rowe's legs with some heavy kicks. Sadly for O'Reilly Rowe was resilient, catching another strike and sending him head over heels with a knee strike, forcing him to tag out. Rowe finally tagged in Hanson, who sent Roderick Strong flying with a back body drop.
Hanson left Strong crushed in the corner and avoided a penalty kick from O'Reilly by performing a cartwheel. A clothesline from O'Reilly sent him crawling into the opposite corner. Hanson repeatedly ran into both men. O'Reilly tried to hit Hanson with a big boot, but he avoided, and he caught Strong across the face instead.
Strong fought out of the corner and dropped the mighty Hanson with a clothesline. Both men tagged in their partners. Rowe tanked the knee strikes from O'Reilly. All four men stood inside the ring and traded heavy strikes, but it was the War Raiders who won out with a launching powerslam combo from Rowe and Hanson.
Hanson dove to the outside to take down Strong. Rowe, on the inside, tortured O'Reilly with multiple gutwrench gutbusters, then tagged in his partner. War Raiders went for the Fallout again, but Strong interrupted, bringing Hanson all the way down to the mat with a superplex. O'Reilly dove from the top with a knee, but Hanson kicked out.
All four men struggled to get to their feet as a "This is Awesome" chant rang out. O'Reilly tagged Strong in, and the champions brought Hanson down with tandem strikes, followed by an Olympic Slam from Strong. Hanson kicked out. Undisputed Era hit him with the High-Low, but he kicked out again.
Hanson dodged another High-Low with a cartwheel, then took out both Strong and O'Reilly with a handspring elbow. The Powerslam/Powerbomb combo from the Raiders sent Strong flying to the outside while Hanson and Rowe put O'Reilly away with the Fallout.
Results: War Raiders defeated the Undisputed Era (c) via pinfall.